Market still worried about Chinese data accuracy say Standard Chartered

As you may know Chinese Q1 GDP data was released last night and while it didn’t provide any shocks Standard Chartered says that the key leading indicators are pointing to a further slowdown in Q2. They say that the market is becoming increasingly worried that these falling indicators may not be reflected accurately in the official data.

They see Q2 GDP at 7.4% y/y, down from their previous estimate of 7.5% and they raise Q3 and Q4 forecasts to 7.5% from 7.3% and 7.2% respectively.

There’s always a stigma surrounding Chinese data and many in the market question its accuracy. Whatever we feel personally about the data it’s all we have to go on and so should be treated at face value when trading. That said I always prefer the HSBC data points to the official equivalent.